Recovering from Myocarditis

[mullenba]

Last August I nearly died of heart failure due to myocarditis. I was diagnosed with an erratic heart beat several years ago in the military, but the doctors then told me that I was too young and in too good of shape to have any real heart problems. I was living life as normal until August when I suddenly started having chest pains and shortness of breath (at age 28), and I found out that my heart had been weakening since I was originally diagnosed. Fortunately I had been very active in the Military, and I had been going to the gym four days a week pretty much since I'd gotten out a year ago.

Ok, now with my background out of the way, I'm trying to figure out how to get back on my feet. I'm currently on medication that reduces the load on my heart and suppresses it's function. My doctors tell me that it's vital that I get back to working out hard in order to strengthen my heart back up, because if I don't work out, my medication will actually make my heart worse. My problem is that I just have no endurance anymore. I can't think of where to even start to try to rebuild my cardio. Right now I'm doing about 25 minutes on an excercise bike (on a low setting), followed by a light lifting workout. Basically my endurance is so bad that I run out of air before I even feel like I'm starting to get a good burn.

I really need some suggestions on how to try to get back up and going again. I've run marathons and done martial arts tournaments in the past, now I can barely run up a couple flights of stairs before I'm gassed.

Help!

[melon]

What medications are you taking first of all?

Restarting cardio from scratch is a long and painful process, you have to start from the very beginning and build it up very slowly. You may not feel you have had a hard workout, but if you are completely out of breath this shows your heart has worked hard and this is essentially what is key to your recovery. Keep at it!

[mullenba]

I'm currently taking Carvedilol (an ACE inhibitor that slows the heart, reduces the strength of it's beats, and lowers blood pressure), lisinopril (also lowers my blood presure), and a full dose of Asprin (325mg daily as a blood thinner).

I forgot to mention in the first post that my problems are not genetic and not from an inactive lifestyle or anything. I apparently caught some sort of virus that attacked my heart years ago... Just bad luck I guess.

[dominikgruden]

I know it is a very very old thread, but i suffered from myocarditis 6 months ago and was wondering how things went for you.

How did your training look like when you started training again? Did you do conditioning as well?
How long did it take you to get back in shape?

Any suggestions or tips for progression? I was told that after you get through myocarditis, you can train and live as you were before, but i do freak out a little.

Thanks, D.

[Abhinavseng]

I know it is a very very old thread, but i suffered from myocarditis 6 months ago and was wondering how things went for you.

How did your training look like when you started training again? Did you do conditioning as well?
How long did it take you to get back in shape?

Any suggestions or tips for progression? I was told that after you get through myocarditis, you can train and live as you were before, but i do freak out a little.

Thanks, D.

Hi,

I am also suffering from myocarditis for last 6 months. Did you take any training (weight, cardio etc)? and dis it benefit you to come back to shape?